Mechanics, could you give me a rough idea of price, please?

dirtychinchilla

dirtychinchilla

dirtychinchilla

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Joined
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Woking
Evening all,

I have an Audi A3 52 plate, and took it for a service at the Audi garage today (first since I bought it) and they've given me a quote for the work that they think needs doing on it. Unsurprisingly, it's rather expensive, so if you could give me an idea of what you would charge I'd appreciate it.

Also, I need to replace the pads and discs at some point and am wanting to buy them myself and have them fitted by someone else. Is this normal?

I won't give you the price for now, but this is what he recommended:

  • Brake fluid change
  • Ribbed belt cracked (am I right in saying this is the serpentine belt, and how do I find the length of the one I need if I were to buy it myself?)
  • NSF outer drive shaft gator leaking
  • Fuel filter change

Then, less important:

  • Washer jets cleaned and adjusted
  • Air and pollon filters changed

Thanks in advance, I really appreciate it!

dirtychinchilla
 
You took it for a service and not even the air filter gets changed as part of that? blimey

buying the discs and pads yourself is not unusual - the prices some garages charge for parts it can be a lot cheaper to do this.

air, pollen and fuel filters along with a brake fluid change did they not recommend a service that would cover these items if they all need changing?
 
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I will do, but I'm interested to hear what people are actually quoting because I know Audi will have given me an inflated price (obviously).

I also have a lazy temperature gauge. Is it likely to be the gauge or the actual sensor that's an issue?
 
Why not call round at a few garages and get some quotes.

What is it recently with people expecting full on garage quotes from the ocuk forum :confused:

Surely it would take less time to get on the phone to a garage that does this stuff day in day out than it would to log on and post to a forum of predominantly car enthusiasts who would be guessing at best?
 
I'll be doing that, I was just after some armchair opinions. I'm not particularly savvy when it comes to taking my car to the garage, and will likely accept whatever price they say, so I was hoping for a ballpark figure to give me an idea if I'm being ripped off or not.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
  • Brake fluid change £50
  • Ribbed belt cracked (am I right in saying this is the serpentine belt, and how do I find the length of the one I need if I were to buy it myself?) length varies depending on engine and whether you have AC, £15 for belt and 60 seconds to fit
  • NSF outer drive shaft gator leaking varies depending on complexity of the car £50-£100
  • Fuel filter change £10 for the part, minutes to fit

Then, less important:

  • Washer jets cleaned and adjusted
  • Air and pollon filters changed £10 each for the parts, 10 minutes to fit , air filter is definitely important, pollen filter has probably never been changed because most car owners just cant be bothered
Click to expand...
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Thanks a lot Matt. So, their price was absolutely outrageous. You don't work near me do you :P?

Is there any way that I can find out what size the belt should be? I have AC.
Click to expand...

First port of call would be to stick your reg number into euro car parts and see what belts they have.

e: Bah! Beaten like a… (you know the rest).
 
Baring in mind that I am not a mechanic, and not wonderfully skilled with my car's mechanics, do you think it would be possible for me to replace all these filters myself? Presumably it can't be that difficult to do the air and pollen filters, but the oil and fuel I would imagine are a little more challenging.
 
If you want to do it as economically as possible, do what has been said and order the bits from ECP.

if you really want, post up the reg and a few people here will post up a parts list for you.

get all the best brands you can get (because youre not paying the mechanics mark up, you can afford to).

the hard bit is getting a decent garage/mechanic to fit it for you

you could easily do the brakes and brake fluid yourself if you have the tools. the filters are a doddle.

id leave the gaitor to someone else if youre novice because they can be a horrible messy job
 
Hmm OK, thanks very much for the advice. I'm tracking down the parts as we speak, but if someone wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate a list just so I don't make a mistake. My reg is LA52 APV.

Honestly, I don't think I'll do any of the work myself in reality, but I just don't want to be overcharged for it.

Do mechanics get edgy if you bring your own parts for them to install?
 
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